NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo Acts to Advance Health Law in New York
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, stepping into the national debate over President Obama’s health care law, used his executive power on Thursday to carry out one of its critical features in New York after the state’s Republican lawmakers blocked legislation to do so.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat who has generally avoided national politics even as he is often mentioned as a potential candidate for president, offered an enthusiastic endorsement of the benefits of the health care measure, which is currently being litigated before the Supreme Court and contested in this year’s presidential campaign.
As he issued an executive order to establish a health insurance exchange, an online marketplace where individuals and small businesses can choose among competing health insurance plans, Mr. Cuomo said it would drive down the cost of insurance while helping the 2.7 million uninsured New Yorkers get affordable coverage.
“The bottom line,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement, “is that creating this health exchange will lower the cost of health insurance for small businesses, local governments and individual New Yorkers across the state.”
Link to the rest: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/13/nyregion/cuomo-orders-health-insurance-exchange-in-new-york.html?_r=1&hp